Mission: Lifestream
by QLGingerBlade
Summary: Byakuya, Ichigo, and Yoruichi have been sent to the planet Gaea to investigate the strange 'afterlife' they have. Byakuya, under the name Tseng, parades as a Turk, and while unraveling the terrible plan put through the planet, he finds an apprentice who just might be the key to solving their problems - a young, struggling cadet named Cloud Strife.


**AN: should i be posting a new story? **

**no. i shouldn't.**

**am i?**

_**hell yeah.**_

**really quickly though, before the story starts, do you have water? food? enough sleep? have you forgotten to take any meds or anything? any pets who need walking? need a shower or bath? take care of that first, please. i don't want you wearing yourself out on my story.**

**good luck out there in the world, readers. have a nice day/night/afternoon!**

* * *

Byakuya Kuchiki.

No, Tseng Atakari.

A stupid sounding name, not very noble, but nonetheless his name, at least in this world.

And said man was walking down a hall.

It was long, unnecessarily so. The floor was white, the walls just barely off-white, the doors lining the area gray and metal. The lamps above him shone with little light, as the funding for the area's power supply was being butchered by the weather as of late.

He could sense all of the souls, trying to pick out the one he wanted specifically.

It was an odd soul, feeling almost. . . blue. A light blue-green, very soft and immensely powerful.

Three doors down from his current position.

Room 40OK.

He silently opened the door and glanced into the room.

The bottom bunk farthest from the door, on the left.

Tseng took in the looks the boy's physical looks, noting the spiky blond hair and pale skin, a frail body, and small size. Those would be his reference for finding out the boy.

The door closed behind him as he left with a smirk.

Perhaps he had a protegé in the arts of kido.

* * *

Reno was probably the most helpful in this whole operation. After a whole month of observation, he knew that the boy was struggling in his studies.

Cloud Strife (for that was the boy's name) was shy, quiet, unlikely to speak to people, easily scared, young, frail, pale, sort of pretty, etc. Above all, an easy target, ten times more harmless than the people of Rukongai. His classmates certainly thought so.

This was the perfect time to intervene.

The boy was in the halls, a little down from the mess hall.

Tseng approached, hearing the heels of his shoes click with a satisfying sound of intimidation, and he knew Cloud had heard it too.

"Cloud Strife. Failing in all classes but materia, in which you are succeeding rather well."

The blond looked confused and even more put-out, if that was possible.

"While that may be, you also have a great amount of potential in an area entirely unrelated to the courses, something that I have never found someone possibly able to do."

And now he was even more confused-looking. Somehow.

"Come with me."

The shuffle of feet tripping over one another to follow his steady steps down to a training room. It wasn't one of the cadet training rooms, it was a SOLDIER training room.

The recognition system granted admittance to the two and they stood across from each other.

"You can't tell anyone about our meetings."

Cloud nodded quickly, and Tseng smiled.

"Shall we begin?"

The look of fear in Cloud's eyes was rather obvious.

"I am going to teach you a little something called kido."

* * *

Tseng would never understand why Yoruichi and Kurosaki joined him in this new world.

Yoruichi was in her cat form, never talking unless in privacy, but still finding many ways to annoy him and it would never cease to do so. She spent more time venturing than anything, but was still around.

Kurosaki was just there. No one but Tseng and Yoruichi had seen him, always walking through him, and he would giggle because it tickled.

After dying in Kurakara thanks to a car crash and severely damaged lungs, he became a full-time Shinigami, captain of the Fifth Division, with Rukia as his second in command, who was watching over things while he was away, just as Renji was doing for Byakuya turned Tseng.

Kurosaki had been an immense amount of aid, proving to be good counsel when he was in need of it, and Yoruichi was out and about, plus investigating many things that Tseng couldn't.

The reason the three of them had been sent to this world was that it was a literal pocket of space. No one knew where it came from, and the dead were not appearing in Soul Society, and there was also the fact that it was sucking souls out of Rukongai and reusing them. Thus, Byakuya, Kurosaki, and Yoruichi were sent out to investigate.

So far, very little had occurred, but they had managed to find out about something called the 'Lifestream'.

And now, with Tseng wondering if he should take on Cloud as a full apprentice, he wanted a full background.

Kurosaki was sent for the side-job, and he discovered a lot more than he had intended.

Why was everything so complicated?

* * *

"President Shinra, sir, I would like to thank you for letting me have this private meeting with you."

The fat man nodded with formality. "It's nothing, Tseng. What was it you wanted to discuss?"

"Well, you have another son, who is older than Rufus. He joined the Cadet Training Program three months ago, and is unaware of you being his father, convinced that his adopted and abusive father who he and his mother left is his biological father. I am here to ask if you know that he is your son."

The President just stared at him for a few moments before asking, "What's his mother's name?"

"Eleanor Strife nee Juggey."

Silence filed over little crook and cranny of the room before vanishing when the President sighed. "Do not make him aware of his status, and know that I am not changing heirs."

"Very well, sir."

* * *

Ichigo watched the kid get bullied again.

He wanted to intervene but there wasn't really anything he could do, considering he was watching the security feed from two buildings over, confined there because Tseng was convinced that there was a spy somewhere in the area and he wanted to prevent bad things from happening by watching from a larger spectrum.

Tseng would want to know though, just how far the bullies were going.

It would probably be evident when the two met after dinner to train.

He sighed and grumbled about how hard it was to remember to call Tseng by his new name, and not Byakuya.

* * *

The black eye looked like it hurt, and Tseng cursed as he remembered that he knew little to no healing kido.

Cloud looked ready to train, but the wobble in his legs proved a small limp, probably due to severe kicks to the lower area of his body.

Not good.

"Come with me," he ordered, and the boy followed him through long hallways and into an elevator.

They arrived at the Turk's living space. It wasn't home, it wasn't a house, it was just a place he lived, simple as that. He stepped into the area, and beckoned for the boy to sit. Cloud stared at Kurosaki with a strange look, and Tseng was in his room when he heard Cloud ask, "Who are you?"

Ichigo was obviously surprised. "You can see me?!"

A materia rolled in his hand, and Tseng quickly equipped it before casting Cure on his up and coming protege, who had barely noticed due to chatting with the orange-haired boy.

"I've seen you around a lot, but I never really thought much of it before. So, who are you?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki. I'm a spirit that's just hanging around."

"So all that stuff about the Lifestream is true?"

"That? That place is just plain shady. Souls go in and don't come out and it's not right. There is an afterlife, so why aren't they going there?"

"There is?"

"Yep! It's called Soul Society. I'm normally there, but now I'm here so I'm just hanging around."

"Oh. Can. . . Can Tseng see you?"

"Yep!"

"Oh. Wow. This is kinda. . . sudden, uh, why can't people see you?"

"They aren't spiritually adept. You are, which is why Tseng is teaching you kido."

"Oh. Do you know kido?"

"Nope! Don't have the control for it."

"Hm."

Tseng smiled as Ichigo answered the questions of the eager boy.

* * *

"You can't tell anyone about Ichigo."

"I don't really have anyone to tell so I doubt it's a problem."

"That's. . . rather depressing."

"Well, I would tell you, but you already know, so it doesn't really matter. My mom. . . she would probably disown me if I said I was seeing dead people. And the other boys in the training program. . . well, we don't really interact much, so there isn't much to talk about."

"I see. Well, head to bed. I want to teach you some other battle techniques tomorrow, but I'm not an expert, so I'll call in a friend to teach you."

"Alright. Good night, Tseng."

"Good night, Cloud."

* * *

Yoruichi was curled around Tseng's shoulders as they made their way down to the training room.

"So, this kid. You want to teach him hakuda. Or rather, you want me to teach him hakuda."

Tseng nodded.

"Huh. You think he can handle it?"

Another nod.

"Alright. Did he really master all that kido in two months?"

A third nod.

"Wow. Maybe we should let him talk to Kisuke, huh?"

An immediate shake of the head.

"I'm not kidding. I'm gonna call him."

Yoruichi ran away laughing and Tseng followed angrily. He did _not_ want Urahara trumping in on his mission!

* * *

Cloud was making his way to the training room as usual, when he noticed a cat following him.

It was black, with golden eyes, and it was watching him stare at it.

He wanted to say something, but found nothing to say, instead holding out his hands to the cat, who gladly jumped into his arms.

He continued to the training room, and when he put the cat down outside of it, when it followed him in, he was about to shoo it out, when the cat spoke.

"So, you're Tseng's student, huh?"

Cloud just froze.

"He asked me to teach you hakuda. But for that, I'll need to change forms."

The cat turned into a naked woman (something he had not been expecting, seeing as the cat had the voice of a man) and closed the door, then pulled on some clothes from. . . somewhere.

She turned to him and grinned a cat-like grin. "Well, Cloud. My name is Yoruichi. Be prepared for hell."

He gulped and braced himself as best as he could.

* * *

Yoruichi knew that Cloud had mastered kido in two months, but she intended not only to teach him all of hakuda, but to cut the time in half.

"Again, Strife! You can do it!"

He dropped onto his hands and spun his legs, kicking out at her with his knees and feet.

She blocked most of them, but his speed was increasing, and he almost nailed her cheek with one shot.

He was drenched in sweat, and he was wearing an _onmitsukido_ uniform. She had made him start to wear it almost immediately, and he had kept up.

"One more time, Strife! You're getting better!"

He repeated the attack, straining his back to make it, and she looked on proudly as he managed to hit her once.

He stood in front of her, obviously struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Alright, hit the showers. You did well tonight, Strife. You're getting faster, and it's really showing."

He looked at her and smiled, then left to the showers.

* * *

"Did you see that?"

Duke, Petros, Lanchester, Uther, and Francis, Cloud's roommates, watched as Cloud fought relentlessly against the lady, his normally hidden muscles bunching and bending as he moved swiftly and quietly, a deadly dance upon his feet.

"He is amazing."

* * *

"Cloud?"

The blond, who was standing under the lukewarm water, turned to look at the silhouettes in the doorway to the showers.

". . . Yes?" His voice was quiet and timid, as always, but it sounded tired more than anything.

The group outside of the bathroom, his roommates were standing together in a fit of worry.

They didn't before, but they did worry about him now that they knew how much he was going through to keep up with the class.

"Are you alright? You've been coming back to the room late, showering because you're always drenched in sweat, and you have a new bruise each day."

The water ran for a little while before the reply came out, just as shy as always. ". . . I'm fine. You should go to bed."

They did not leave.

When the water was finally shut off, and Cloud reached for a towel, they handed him one, and he hesitated in using it, and when he stepped out, they immediately dried his hair and helped him pull on his clothes.

He just looked at them, confused, as they helped him for the first time in their whole time as cadets.

They offered no explanation, but the next morning, at breakfast, they actually talked to him. He didn't say much in return, but he did seem a bit happier over the weeks.

Tseng, Ichigo and Yoruichi watched from afar, glad to see Cloud was at least a bit happy for once.

* * *

**AN: so, open plotholes that will be closed. i have thought this through a lot, okay?**

**also, i might put slash in later, but otherwise i'm leaving it at canon pairings (aeris/zack, byakuya/hisana) and the rest will just be left pairingless or up to your imagination.**


End file.
